Fiction logo

Dragons in the City

A mysterious egg

By Paige Turner Published 2 years ago 9 min read
Like
Dragons in the City
Photo by Babak Habibi on Unsplash

There weren’t always dragons in the valley, but there was a busy city. This city had been built from past generations. It was now one of the main hubs in the country. It was like many cities around the world, it had apartment buildings, offices, busy people. But this city had something no other city had. It had a teenage girl who would change this city forever.

It all started with Rebecca. She wanted to be a social media sensation. She wanted to be popular, the most liked girl in school, but most of all she wanted over a million followers. She tried everything she could, she did stupid dances, she tried makeup tutorials, she even tried singing, but nothing worked. People only made fun of her, called her names and made her feel stupid. She was tired of having no friends, of being a nobody, and being a loser in her school.

Rebecca wasn’t the prettiest, at least that’s how she felt. She had to wear glasses, her hair was curly and frizzy. Her mother made her wear clothes that were from her older sister and definitely not from this generation.

One morning she got up for school. She picked out a pair of jeans and a shirt. Once dressed she looked in the mirror with frustration. She wished she could change the way she looked. She wanted to look like the popular girls in school with their straight blond hair, perfect teeth and fashionable clothes.

“Rebecca, let’s go!” Her mother called from downstairs.

Rebecca rolled her eyes then grabbed her back pack and went downstairs.

On the kitchen table was freshly made waffles. Rebecca sat down, her mother handed her a plate.

“Almost summer vacation are you excited?” Her mother asked as she sat down and grabbed a waffle for herself.

“Yea” Rebecca said unenthusiastically. She grabbed a waffle and began to cut it into pieces. She wasn’t excited, she had no plans for summer, no friends who wanted to hang out. She knew she was going to spend her time either alone or with family, and that was the last thing she wanted.

“We’ll I’m excited” Rebecca’s mother said after she swallowed a piece of waffle.

“I’m going to get a week off of work just as you start your summer break, and we can go to a national park or something, your sister may come in from New York and we could all go see a movie.” Her mother sounded excited.

“Sounds exciting” Rebecca said not taking her eyes off her plate.

After breakfast Rebecca kissed her mom goodbye then headed out to catch the bus.

She stood at the bus stop with the other kids who all seemed to have friends. Rebecca looked at her phone pretending she had people to text when in reality no one except her mom and sister messaged her.

At lunch, she sat at the end of the table alone as usual. She hated lunch time, that’s when she felt the loneliest. She watched as the other teens laughed and joked with their friends.

“It’s the loner” she looked up to see Stephanie, one of the most popular girls in school point at Rebecca. Stephanie’s friends who stood behind her laughed. “Poor little baby all alone, why do you even eat here? You should eat in the bathroom stall where you belong.” Everyone around Rebecca started to laugh. “You’re disgusting. I mean look at you” Stephanie said laughing. Rebecca got up from the table and left. It was like this everyday. No one cared about her, no one cared if she would just disappear.

After school, she got home and went straight to her room. Her mother wouldn’t be home for at least another two hours. Rebecca went to the computer to start her homework, but instead was side tracked and went online. That when she saw all the hurtful messages and an image taken from a past school yearbook. It was an image of her but Stephanie drew a pigs face on it, then posted it online. It had over a hundred likes and shares. Rebecca began tearing up. She hated school! She ran to her bed and put her face in her pillow and began crying. That’s when she heard the ping letting her know she had one new message.

She wiped the tears from her eyes, got up to see who it was. It was from someone she never met. It simply said:

I have something that will make you popular.

She was skeptical, she heard of all those stories about creeps on the internet.

Who is this? She asked.

The person was typing, she got another ping. It said:

Meet me on the corner of 5th and center in one hour.

Who is this? She wrote again.

The person signed off.

Rebecca leaned back in her chair, she looked at the clock. She still had time before her mom came home.

She grabbed her phone then left the house.

On the bus heading to the meeting place she felt anxious. What if this person was bad? What if she gets kidnapped? She had a million thoughts and questions running through her head.

The bus approached the corner of 5th and center and for a moment she thought about going home. Instead, she stood up and got off the bus.

She looked around, people passed her. None of them seemed like the person online. She looked at her phone. She did make it on time. Maybe the person was late?

“Psst” she heard she looked around and saw a hooded person standing near a hedge motioning with their hand to come to them. Rebecca looked around worried, but it was a busy street, people would notice if she started screaming.

She followed the person around a corner. It was an alley which was much more secluded. Rebecca stopped walking and said, “I don’t know who you are or what you want from me but this is as far as I’m going.” The person turned around and walked to her stopping just a few feet in front. She couldn’t make out if they were a male or female. They took off their bag, put it on the ground then bent down. They opened the latch then pulled out a large dark green egg. They held it out to her.

“What’s that?” Rebecca asked looking at it.

They didn’t say anything. Rebecca slowly approached and took the egg, it was heavy, at least ten pounds. She needed two hands to hold it.

“Keep it warm, keep it dry” they said in a distorted voice.

Rebecca looked from the egg to the person.

“Is this some kind of joke?”

“Keep it warm, keep it dry” they repeated.

“Okay?” Rebecca looked back at the egg. She tilted it a little and she saw that it had some shine to it. It was very pretty.

“What is it?” She asked looking up. The person was gone.

She looked around turning in a circle, but the person was no longer there. Strange she thought.

While she rode the bus back people gave her off looks, and some people stared. She had difficulty carrying the egg home. It was heavy and her arms hurt.

Once home she went up to her room, she place the egg on her bed and wrapped it in a blanket. She sat down on the computer chair and stared at the egg. She heard the front door close, her mom was home.

Later that night just before bed, Rebecca placed a folded blanket under her desk, she put the egg in the center, wrapped another blanket around it, then a third one over it. She looked at it satisfied that her mom wouldn’t notice it as it looked like a pile of blankets.

She hopped into bed sat up and looked at the bundle of blankets wondering what it could be. She knew it wasn’t a crocodile egg or a lizard, she’s seen their eggs online. She shut off her light then laid down and slept.

Weeks followed and nothing changed, it was still an egg. She had followed the strangers instructions, she kept it warm, she kept it dry. She wondered if perhaps the thing inside was dead. She also wondered if perhaps the whole thing was some stupid prank.

She came home from school one day, she was suprised to hear her mother call from the kitchen, “hello!” Rebecca went to the kitchen and saw her mother cooking.

“Hey mom, what are you doing home?”

“It wasn’t busy at work so my boss gave us a half a day. Isn’t that nice?”

“Yea”

Rebecca headed up stairs to her room. She heard the footsteps of her mother following.

“Rebecca honey, your room is a mess and there is a pile of blankets under your desk can you hand them to me to wash?”

Rebecca went into her room and looked at the pile of blankets.

“They’re clean” she told her mother who now stood in the doorway of her room.

“Not if they are on the floor” her mother took a step forward

Rebecca stood in front of her. Her mother looked at her confused.

“Rebecca?”

Rebecca tried to think of something, anything to say to her mother, but no words came out. Her mother tried to step around her, but again Rebecca stood in front of her.

“This is rediculous. What is in the blankets?”

“Uh” her mother pushed her aside. She pulled the top blanket off and saw the egg.

“What is this?”

“Uh” Rebecca couldn’t say anything. Her mother picked up the egg, quickly Rebecca took it from her and place it gently on her bed.

“What is that?!” Her mother demanded.

“Someone gave this to me”

“Who?”

Rebecca shrugged.

“Who gave this to you?” Her mother sounded stern and angry.

“Someone from online”

“What?” Now her mother was angry.

“You don’t know who gave this to you?”

Rebecca shook her head, no.

“What is it?”

Rebecca shrugged.

“So let me get this straight.” Her mother closed her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger then looked back at Rebecca. “ you don’t know who gave this to you or what it is”

Rebecca nodded, yes.

Her mother went to go grab the egg but Rebecca stopped her.

“Please mom”

“We have to though it out. Who know what it could be. It could have a camera inside for Pete’s sake”

They heard a crack. They both turned to look at the egg. It had a large crack on its side.

Rebecca knelt down next to the bed and watched as the egg began to crack more. A little head popped out. It looked like some sort of lizard. It pushed its body outside of the egg. It had tiny wings and a tail.

“Is that a dragon?” Her mother asked.

“Looks like it” Rebecca said staring at it, just as confused as her mother.

Fantasy
Like

About the Creator

Paige Turner

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.